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Tuesday, 8 June 2010

Buddy, You're A Big Dog Now..


Oh yes he is. A great big gangly, awkward mutt now. Okay, so he's not massive in size (I'm kinda hoping he's still got some growing to do because I always saw myself with a German Shepard - I think the mix of 'wee wumin and big dug' can be quite charming sometimes) and there is actually more meat on a butchers pencil (a particularly skinny pencil at that) but in comparison to when we first got him, he's now very big and a bit clunky. You wanna see? Okay then!



The above photo was taken at Rouken Glen park, where Buddy first proved to be a bit of a park terrorist, especially when there are balls involved. Buddy loves nothing more than annoying other park users by attacking their footballs, so it's safe to say that he wasn't the most popular puppy in the park that day. We did, however meet another beardie, and we were so excited we dashed over to meet him & his owners. He was a lovely dog, with one blue eye and one brown eye. His name began with a Z, I want to say Zeus, but I think that might be wrong. Those could be two of the most boring sentences ever typed on a blog. Let me redeem myself by showing you a pic of the other beardie, codename Z




So what else has been happening? Well, Buddy has been teething. We know this because we've been finding his teeth on the ground. Yeuch. We just had a new kitchen fitted (which meant that the 5 human Johnstons and the canine Johnston had to move into my mum's for a week) and when we came home, we had dust and bits of kitchen everywhere. One day I bent over to pick up what I thought was a little bit of plaster and it was actually one of Buddy's teeth *shudder*. Horrible. Anyway, I think he's had the decency to keep his teeth in his head now so hopefully all his adult teeth are through.

The teething doesn't come alone - oh no, it comes along with teething pain, which means that Mutt Man wants to chew everything. We've lost a phone wire, numerous toys, countless pencils and the dining room chairs have taken a bit of a battering too.

And then, we had Tick-Gate. Oh, the hulabaloo that ensued one Saturday night when Lucy found a tick on Buddy's cheek. I knew what it was straight away, having seen them once before on Raffi many years previously. On that occasion, I took Raffi to the vet and paid him (some would handsomely, others would say obscenely) to remove the little blighters. In those days, we didn't have the gift of t'internet you see. Scott began to Google tick removal while I spirited Buddy up to my friend's house,who had told me that her neighbour was an old hand at removing ticks. Her neighbour wasn't in - what a cheek. So it was back home, armed with the information super highway and nerves of steel to get the tick safely off the hound. In the end, we succeeded by roasting my tweezers on the (new) gas hob and then placing the burning hot tweezers on the parasite until it contracted enough to be pulled out slowly, taking all its legs and its horrible little head with it. Once the tick was removed, my tweezers went straight in the bin and I've resembled a pre-make-over SuBo ever since. The sacrifices we make for our pets, eh?

And so, with the image of me sporting SuBo's eyebrows lingering in your consciousness, I shall draw to a close. I shall leave you an altogether more pleasant image - this is Buddy post walk and pre-bath...




and this is him all white and fluffy again.



What a cutie. Goodbye, take care and remember that if you ever meet buddy, you better have treats in your pocket...

Wednesday, 5 May 2010

Cheese!


Whoever said that dogs can't smile hasn't clapped their eyes on this pic of Buddy and a very toothless Charlotte:

Crouching Charlotte, Smiling Buddy



And if you needed any further evidence, here's a pic taken about six years ago of our girl Lucy with The Best Dog In The World - Raffi. Raffi lived with me from about 9 weeks old until he was four and then went to live with my brother Barry and his girlfriend, Jo. He was a truly brilliant - if not overly-intelligent- dog and when he passed away, he left a huge hole in all our hearts. Here he is, smiling on a sunny day with Lucy after a walk up the Braes



So - back to the Bud Miester. After graduating from the Puppy foundation class at Wizard of Paws, we've progressed onto the Novice course! Last night was the first class and we were reinforcing our relationships with our dogs by getting them to pay attention to us from periods of 2 seconds up to about 20 seconds. I think Buddy successfully managed three seconds with our going to try and get a wee fly sniff at the Labradoodles' derriere. So charming. I can see that Buddy has the makings of being a really, really great dog - we just need to be consistent and regular with his training to get him there! But, if we stick with it, you never know, he could end up resembling a real dog after all...

Sunday, 25 April 2010

And we're back.!


We're back - by popular demand. You're not rockin' with a one-man band. Okay, those might have been the lyrics from 'Street Tuff' by Rebel MC, but I feel they're rather fitting. Mainly because, y'know - we're back. And it is by popular demand - okay, it was my mum that asked me to update the blog, but still, that counts as demand, okay?

So yes - we're still Lucy-less but hopefully that shall be resolved tomorrow and Lucy will be back home with us, locked in her room listening to Galaxy FM on her radio. It will be like she's never been away.

So, Buddy the Bearded Collie is now 19 weeks old - how about that. We've had for 11 weeks now and it's safe to say that the FLuffmeister is now very firmly a part of the family. But wait - I said Fluddmeister. That's not entirely true. Mr Buddy has decided to begin shedding his adorable puppy fluff in favour of a more grown up look. Yes, the dog is re-inventing himself, Lady GaGa style. If he starts wearing telephone headpieces, we know we're in trouble. Buddy's new image is a bit more rock and roll than his 'fluffy puppy' look. It's wiry, a lot greyer and he's got more of an edge. The very strange thing is that it not a gradual change - far from it. Last week, we all went on holiday, Lucy with her Grandma and Papa to Gran Canaria and the rest of the Johnston contingency to a caravan park in Embo with Gran & Grandpa (our kids have more grandparents than you can shake a stick at - explanations of the bizarre family dynamic are available on request. i would try and explain it now, but I don't want to get all 'Jeremy Kyle' on your ass). Our caravan was booked in 2009BB (Before Buddy) and as it was a specifically non-pet caravan, we couldn't take our four legged friend with us. No fear, he was booked in to stay with the Kearns clan, fellow Bearded Collie owners. And just any bearded collie, but the beardie that inspired us to go for the breed over a boxer. Ten year old Sam is The Best Beardie Ever - it's official. Chilled out temperament, great with the kids and looks brilliant - yes, Sam convinced us that a Beardie was the way to go. So we packed Buddy off along with all his accoutrements (indoor kennel, bed, blanket, toys, bowls, food, lead, training line, brush come - Buddy had more luggage than Diana Ross, but a better attitude) got him settled with Aunty Julie and off we went.

I only phoned once during the week we were away to see how he was and if he was frying Julie's brain - I think I did very well. And so did our boy - Julie said she loved having him although she's gone off the idea of getting a pup at the moment. 'Nuff said Jules;)

When we got home and went to reclaim our puppy, you could have knocked me over with a feather. His front legs and body down to where his waist (if dogs have waists - can anyone confirm or deny?) would be were all different but his back legs, rump & tail were still fluffy. It is the strangest looking thing. He actually looks as though he's wearing furry trousers from a distance. It's ridiculous but endearing at the same time. But as his coat changes (from the front to the back) you can see him becoming more and more beardie-like all the time. And just in case you don't know what a full-grown beardie looks like, I have most kindly supplied a pic.



Gorgeous, isn't it? I'm really excited to see what he's going to look like when he's fully grown, although I certainly don't want to wish away his puppy days - they seem to be going so fast already.

AS you can see, he's going to have a cracking coat and we'll need to decide whether we'll keep it long or get him clipped. Part of me really wants to have it long, but then there's the extra maintenance to consider. Bu here's the thing - I adore grooming him. Really, really love it. I don't know what it is, but I find it very therapeutic and relaxing. At the moment, I get enough fluff off him to stuff a cushion when I comb him - which I do every evening. I really look forward to my 15 or 20 minutes sitting grooming him and I love how he looks afterwards. He has a few 'sprouts' of hair which are growing over his eyes which worried me as I though he wouldn't be able to see properly, but Peter from Wizard of Paws explained that those 'sprouts' (sorry for the rubbish word, I'm not at my most eloquent right now) will help to form the 'beardie look' round about his eyes - once they grow longer, they'll grow up and fall down roundabout the eyes and won't be in the way. So they're staying put just now.

It's also worth noting that Buddy has rediscovered his hatred/fear of the car and reverted to his horrendous slevering and occasional sickness whilst in the car. MY car. I do love the mutt, but to be honest, he's walking a fine line now.

Here are some piccies of Mr Budacious.

Try to ignore his Kerry Katona tongue-sticking-out pose. Buddy does sometimes puke in the car and piss on the floor, but he's far more appealing than KK.


I love how he's looking out of the corner of his eye - very suspiciously...


Love from me, sloppy puppy-licks from Buddy x

Saturday, 24 April 2010

*sneaks in through the back door*




We're still here- still bringing up baby. I mean Buddy. A full and frank update will follow shortly, but more important matters first - my darling daughter Lucy is stranded in Gran Canaria because of that stupid flaming volcano carry on. Thankfully, she's with her Grandma and her Papa who are taking extremely good care of her and Thomas Cook have very kindly put them up in a fabby rinky-dinky all inclusive hotel until they get a flight home (hopefully Monday, which means she will have been AWOL for one whole week)

We're all missing Loopy Loo very, very much - espeically Buddy Boy, who is very much missing his best pal and Chief Trainer. Lucy has asked that I upload some pics of the hound onto the blog so she can see them, so here we go



Another action shot


Scary beast, on the prowl




We can't wait to see you Lucy, try not to eat all of the Magnums in Gran Canaria!

Wednesday, 31 March 2010

Still here...peein' on the floor...

Hello! You thought I'd given up, hadn't you? Thought I couldn't handle this blogging malarky. Well baby, I'm still here and so is Buddy Boy Bingo.

So WHY have I been AWOL for so very long? Well, I was hit by a lurgy. Two days of illness and general ickyness. We were also slap bang in the middle of the Magners Comedy Festival in Glasgow during which Scott & I usually manage to swing a few child-free nights to see some gigs. This year we saw Frankie Boyle who was - to put it politely - really crap. In fact, I would say he was rather vile. We also saw Sean Lock who was fab and the fantastic Rhod Gilbert - he was the mutt's nuts (which I feel is a rather phrase for a dog blog).

But no-one is really interested in all that chat, are they? Noooo! It's all about the Buddster on here.

Buddy has now completed his Puppy Foundation Course at Wizard of Paws. He's a foundling, officially. He even has a wee loveheart tag with a paw on it to go on his collar to prove it, so it must be true.

Tonight we tried our hand (or more appropriately, paws) at a bit of recall. The whole recall thing is very important to me because I get very nervous when Dog McDogface is off the lead. On one hand, I love nothing more than watching him bound across open fields, his puppy fluff streaming in the wind behind him as he streaks off up the hill like a ferret up a trouser leg. It' a truly marvelous sight. Then I get all panicky thinking 'he won't come back! He won't come back!' and I start shouting on him with my nerves screamingly apparent in my voice. and guess what. He doesn't come back.

I will document our recall class on this very blog but not tonight Jospehine - Mama's very tired and must got to beddy -bye-byes.

Later, dog dudes

x

Monday, 15 March 2010

Ain't No Mountain High Enough...

This is a quick non-Buddy related post just to let you know that Scott and I will be climbing Ben Nevis, the highest mountain in Britain, to raise money for Camille's Appeal, a charity which helps children under five who have suffered from brain tumours. If you were ever looking for a worthy cause to donate to, this would the one.

We'll be climbing Ben Nevis on August 7th, so please, if you can donate to our Just Giving page. We don't care how much you donate - every penny will help.

Thanks very much!

Sunday, 14 March 2010

A New Loch Monster? No Worries, Nessie...


Another weekend, another family day out - with the Hell Hound. WE decided this week to see if Bud was a natural in the water, so we let Mother know we off on another jolly adventure, asked Cook to pack us a picnic with thick cut cut honey roast hams sandwiches and lashing and lashings of ginger beer... Sorry, I came over all 'Enid Bylton' there, but since there's now five os us plus a dog, I'm worried we're starting to morph into The Famous Five. Do let us know if we start to sound like dear old Eind, won't you? There's a good chap.

Where were we? oh yes, picnic. I packed ham sandwiches, cheese sandwiches, ham AND cheese sandwiches (variety is the spice of life y'know)and a Weightwatchers friendly (if somewhat tasteless) lunch for me. I hit my 'official' goal weight at WW, although my unofficial goal weight is still a few pounds away, but I was going to be damned if I was going to let a few crappy cheese/ham/butter laden sangers get in the way of my weight loss. Not when there's things like wine and chocolate to knock me off kilter. big bottle of fizzy orange (Orangina to be precise, diet of course) some Pepperamis for the kids, some Monster Munch crisps and we were good to go.

after much debate about where to go (Ayr? The kids have a pathological fear of the playground. Saltcoats? The weans love it there, but the parking's not so great. Largs? Too rocky. Troon? Too many condoms on the beach and we ain't picking them out of the dogs teeth - you get the general idea) we plumped for the exceedingly pretty village of Luss on the banks of Loch Lomond

Being 'The Johnstons', the first thing we did when we arrived was to demolish our picnic. We found a picnic bench and Lucy secured the Bud-meister to it by tying his lead on to it. It was a great spot with loads of dogs running about, but we didn't feel confident enough to let Bud off the lead, so he had to content himself by looking at the other dogs and staring at the ducks who were mooching about for the odd crust to be chucked in their direction.

.

Once we had chowed down, it was time to do what i had been looking forward to for the five weeks since we got bud - taking him swimming. As Renfrewshire Council have a No Bearded Collie In The Pool policy, Wee Buddy would have to make do with the Great Outdoors.

We made our way down to the lochside and expected Buddy to bound into the water. It didn't quite happen that way. It was more a case of a wellie-clad Lucy dragging him into the water and Buddy not particularly enjoying it. He came out of the water with his mighty fluff on his head and body intact, but his little tree trunk legs were more like scrawny matchsticks as they were so wet. I think you need a photo


So it turns out our puppy's not such a big fan of the water. No matter, we still spent a good few hours in the village, specifically the play park playing with the kids, watching the pup bounding about around chasing sticks and leaves. It was a glorious afternoon and one which I'll remember for a very long time. Here are some pics...

Wednesday, 10 March 2010

Keeping Calm And Carrying On...

Woof. Woof Woof. Arf. Whine. Whine. Woof. Woof Woof. Arf. Whine. Whine. Woof. Woof Woof. Arf. Whine. Whine. Woof. Woof Woof. Arf. Whine. Whine. Woof. Woof Woof. Arf. Whine. Whine. (Repeat for two hours)

^
That is my life between the hours of midnight and 2am, people. Our Bud loves nothing more than a damned good whinge at that time and let me tell you, I'm soooo over it now. Thanks to Gill Buchanan's sage advice, we are no longer getting up to settle him when he starts, we just roll over, throw a pillow over our heads and try to get back to sleep until Puppy Power realises he ain't getting jack. It's getting easier because his tantrums aren't as long now. But they're still long enough to make me wish that he had a battery compartment that I could flip open and remove the batteries for the night. Or maybe a mute button...yeah, that could work. A mute button for bumptious puppies - quick, get someone at JML onto it. Just think, you could soon see Puppy Mute Buttons on little plastic racks in Asda next to Ped-Eggs and Slankets. Remember people - you heard it here first.

So week two of our puppy foundation course. How did we get on? Well, due to the Gods conspiring against me and throwing everything from temperamental ovens, appointments running late and the phone ringing off the hook, we were late. And just for the craic, Buddy picked today - the day when my stress levels were hitting previously unsurpassed heights - to roll in a muddy puddle. A bath was not only a good idea, it was a necessity. Showering/bathing the puppy whilst you've got totties boiling, trying to pull a washing in, mark homework and organise a Girls Brigade uniform is not recommended. Do not try it at home. The bath was nearly as minging as the pup, I was quite astounded at the amount of muck that a nearly 13 week old dog can retain in it's coat - he must have increased his own body weight by at least 50%. I still haven't been up to clean up following Emergency-Bath-Gate, I'm not looking forward to that. Of course, I have provided photographic evidence of the utterly bogging state of the pup.



Anyhoo, I digress. Off to puppy training we went and arrived with a very over-excited puppy who was both still indignant and hyper after his bath. He was not for settling at all tonight and had to be taken out for several toilet trips - yet still managed to lay a cable on the floor inside Wizard Of Paws (apologies again to everyone in the room at the time - it was a real hummer).

Tonight we learned how to teach our hounds to stay and also how to handle the beasts. To give you a rough idea, you slip two fingers (steady now) under the dog's collar and then place your arm/hand underneath the dog, close to the back legs (personally, I try to steer clear of the general winkie area, if ya get my drift). Did the dogs like it? Not really. In fact, Buddy did go a tad on the loco side. He no likey. However, you persevere until the dog calms down enough to stand nicely with your fingers still holding onto the collar. I'll let you know when Buddy and I achieve this - it ain't gonna be any time soon. The whole point of the exercise isn't just to wind your dog to the high heavens, it's to let your dog get used to being handled at places like the vet or by a groomer. I've to practice it for five minutes a day with Buddy - I think I'll need to get some gardening gloves to protect my hands for those training sessions.

It's getting late and I must be off to my scratcher soon, mainly because I'll be spending the wee small hours listening to Buddy Boy Bongo sing his heart out (unless by some miracle he decides to give a by tonight - fingers crossed!)

Oh! One more thing! Buddy has a new favourite website! Okay, I love it too. It's Dog Judo - I know, it's beyond weird. Fopr some unknown reason, I'm having problems posting links into my blog entries, but I've popped a link into Buddy's Favourites and if you're a cut and paste kinda person, you can do cut and paste this: http://www.dogjudo.com/ Let me point out that no actual dogs are used for judo purposes, it's just a very clever website (but don't let Rexley and Roy hear me say that). I love it, especially Ep 12, Elastic Bands. It's brilliant, enjoy.

Sunday, 7 March 2010

Fluff-Ball Update

It's been a little while since I updated ye olde blog but that's not to say that life is dull with him. Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, if life with Buddy could just click down a gear or two, I could live that. Oh, for the chance to try.

Let's see, what has the black and white Fluff Bucket been up to? Well, since he's discovered the FREEDOM (Braveheart stylee) of getting out for walks since the Event That Must Not Be Mentioned (which was getting his second inoculations, we still can't talk about it in front of him without him going in the huff) Buddy has decided that The Great Outdoors should remain great and he has decided against toileting outside. Seriously, we could take him out for an hour and he would be a poop and pee-free pup but as soon as you open the front door and walk back in the house, the little torag is either getting into to his pre-poop squat and having a fly slash under the dining room table. Frustrating? Yes. Maddening? Absolutely. I don't know how many kitchen rolls I've been through but it's safe to say that Plenty (previously Bounty;) ) will not be going out of business any time soon.


So the puppy does the odd crime against carpeting in the house. We could live with that, right? Of course we could. But one thing that I am not remotely amused with is Buddles' new nocturnal activities - crying like a big girls blouse. All night. Very loudly. On Friday night he turned into a howling hound and kept us awake. What did we do? Stay strong and ignore him? In an ideal world, we would have. But at half past two in the morning it is incredibly difficult to ignore the constant arf arf arf arf woofy woofy woofy arf arf arf woofy woofy woof at ear-splitting decibels. Especially when you're in a post two glasses of red wine haze. We made the classic mistake of going down to see what Dog McDog-face was barking about and guess what? He just to say hi. He just wanted to be petted. He just wanted to have a wee chew at our fingers. Basically, all he wanted was anything except from being left alone to go to sleep. Yes, this puppy is a clever cookie.

Night time howling and carpet defecation aside, what else have we been up to with Budweiser? Puppy training of course! Yes, we've started the puppy foundation course at the brilliant Wizard of Paws Canine Care Centre under the watchful eye of the super-lovely Gill Buchanan. Why oh why can't Gill just move in with us? She gets Buddles to do things when she asks him. How is that possible? When I do the 'sit' thing with him, he just looks at me as if to say 'aye right missus, very good. Make good with the dog treats lady'. However under Gill's encouraging coaching Loopy and I managed to get him to sit on demand - we even got him to lie down on demand. We have continued with the training at home, but now Bud is getting wise to us and as soon as he sits down and gets his treat, he lies down automatically waiting on his next treat. What'cha gonna do? The training is very positive and reward based - we don't punish or berate the pups and use motivation and rewards. If anyone trained me with a grab-bag of Minstrels the way we're training the pups with treats, I'd sit nicely and lie on demand. Damn straight. There's a lovely mix of breeds at the class. There's our Bud, a teacup chihuahua aptly named Tiger, a pug named OB and Border Terrier called Bree. Buddy looked at least twice the size of all the other pups but when you consider that he's 88% pure fluff, I suppose he's just about the right size.

I know that reading about me bleating on about cleaning up pee and suffering from dog-barking related sleep deprivation is perhaps now the most riveting reading. S'ok, I can take it, I'm a big gal. A big, puppy-bore blogging kinda gal. So here's what I thought I'd do - I thought I'd give you a little insight into life through Buddy's eyes....

Wow, they've all gone to up those stairs that I'm not allowed up. Hmmm. Must process that information. I did manage to sneak up there one day and man, it was good. Really good. you know what they've got up there? Slippers. And shoes. Loads of them. Do you know how long I could chew shoes for? A long time my friend, a very long time indeed. And that's before we even get into the bathroom and you know what's in the bathroom? Only the toilet bowl! How much fun is a toilet bowl? It's a lot of fun. They've even got a toilet brush up there - I'm not kidding! A toilet brush!!! Seriously, it's like Disneyland up there for puppies. But there's one problem - I can't get passed that infernal obstacle they put in my way. What do they call it? Oh yeah, the stair gate. The stair gate appears to Buddy-proof. How can I beat the Buddy gate and get up those stairs? Ooooooh I know, know!!!! Bark at it! Barking will work. yeah yeah, let's bark! Woof! Woof! Woof! Woof! (repeat to fade...)

You get the idea.

Reading back, I think this post sounds quite negative and believe me I don't mean to be. Because as much as I may moan about the pee-saturated kitchen roll, poop infested carpet and nocturnal howling, I really, really love my little Buddy Boy Bingo. I love coming downstairs first thing in the morning and seeing his little fuzzy face. I'll be even happier when I can come downstairs and see him in the morning without having to negotiate my way through yellow puddles and puppy logs but I'm sure that will day will come. Here's hoping it comes before Plenty report record profits and we're bankrupt after buying mountains of the stuff.

Till next time...stay safe people. Buddy loves ya.

Tuesday, 2 March 2010

Woof woof...

I have stuff to tell you about the Buddster's progress, but I'm short of time so if you can satisfy yourself with this pic for the moment, that would be great.

I firmly believe this is possibly the best photograph of a dog ever taken. Is it a kangaroo? Is it a rabbit? No, it's a lesser-spotted Bearded Collie...

Wednesday, 24 February 2010

Buddy 'Two Jags' Johnston

***Disclaimer****
I am too tired to proof read this blog entry, so please accept all typos with affection. Much love x

I've not updated the blog for 6 days. I don't know you've coped, I really don't. But you'll no doubt be breathing a sigh of relief that this update is here. Easy soldier, it's going to be alright now.

Here's a gratuitous puppy shot if you need a fix


So the good news is that Buddy has had his second injections - everybody give a whoop whoop! He's still not really allowed out anywhere that other dogs might have done the dirty, so he's still confined to the garden but the end is in sight. Yay. Did Buddy take his inoculations like a big dog? More like a big blouse if I'm honest. The vet advised me to wait for quite some time before taking to have him micro-chipped as that's a even bigger needle. Well, I think that's what she said. I just about collapsed in a heap on the floor at the sight if the smaller needle, so methinks Scott will need to take him to be chipped when the time comes.

What else has been happening? Well, we went to puppy club again on Sunday and Buddy got on a lot better this time, partly because he's got over his sickness in the car- and yes, I think that deserves another round of applause. He's still slevering like a loon, but he's stopped chucking up in my six month old car and for Buddy, I am truly grateful.

We were happy to see our pal Twiglet at puppy club again, she and our boy interacted with each other very well.Twiglet looked less than impressed when Buddy stepped over her but apart from that, they got on great guns. Buddy's bag of purchases from Wizard Of Paws this week included two rawhides - the good quality ones, none of your cheap rubbish for the pup - and a fabby carpet shampoo that takes all traces of doggy do and puppy pee out of the carpet. I'm told it's also very effective on red wine, thanks to Gill Buchanan for that top tip. although, to be fair, wine is very rarely spilled in this house as it's never in the glass long enough. Hic.

Accidents on the carpet have definitely lessened and we're starting to become more in tune with Buddy's bladder. What has my life come to when I'm in tune with the peeing rhythms of a dog? Do I need to get more? Possibly.

And so came the snow. Mountains of the bloody stuff. So much so that I took the children out of school at lunchtime for fear of not being able to get the car out of the drive if I waited until hometime. On his early morning poop and pee expedition, Buddy got to grips with snow. Once he stopped being scared of it. After his puppy-fright wore off, he became more curious than a cat with a death wish. And then cometh the kanagroo-type leaping which is highly amusing and probably quite aerobic too. For the dog I mean. Not me. I wasn't leaping in the garden. It's bad enough that my neighbours witness me in my pink flannel pyjamas, Emu boots and coat standing in the garden without adding leaping to the mix. *Shudders* That would be a stage too far. If they were able to get past the vision of loveliness that was me in the garden, then my neighbours would have treated to the sight of Buddy's own interpretation of a Winter Olympics gymnastic programme.


So, we're now 16 days into our life with Buddy. How is it? Honestly? Bloody hard work. Seriously exhausting. They say that a puppy is as much work as a newborn. Uh-uh my friend, I disagree wholeheartedly. It's more work. With a newborn, you are encouraged to 'sleep when they sleep', people are falling over themselves to help you and no-one minds if you look like a bag of spanners - in fact they expect you to look like a bag of spanners. No such luck with a puppy. Oh no. And you are sleep deprived becasue of the night time crying. you pick up a lot of poo and clean up many litres of wee. You've got too feed them little and often although one saving grace is that you don't need to get your baps out to feed a dog - I'll give you that one. But everything else? Sheesh, it's no walk in the park. But I do believe that in the near future, it will be a walk in the park. Quite literally. And although I'm looking forward to taking Bud out into the big wide world, there's a part of me that will miss just having him as the little, housebound pup. He's getting bigger all the time and although we don't necessarily notice as we see him all the time, I can't help but be surprised when I look at him and realise how much his legs have stretched and how he can easily get up the stairs and jump on the sofa (both of which we're trying to discourage).

I shall try and not leave it so long before I post again - I'm sure you find the days long and arduous without my observations on That Buddy Puppy...


Thursday, 18 February 2010

Buddy's Nemesis...

Hands up - who thought Buddy's enemy within the house would be our nearly 8 year old cat Rocky? While it's fair to say they'll never be bosom buddies, they have reached a certain level of tolerance with each other now.

I know that I may not be Dr Dolittle (although that's what my friend Gayle's dad has nicknamed me, on account of us now having 5 pets in total - well, five pets at the time of typing, one of the fish could go at any minute) but I'm pretty sure I could translate the body language of Buddy and Rocky' first meeting into a dialogue. It went a bit like this:

Buddy: Wow! Another furry thing with four legs - brilliant! Let's play Furry Dude!


Rocky: You fool. I have no time for your fluffy stupidity and endearing enthusiasm. Leave me in peace Fluffball and stay out of my line of vision

Buddy: Ach no, you don't mean that! We've got so much in common - look, you've got a big long chase toy attached to you, just like me! It's brilliant fun to chase, although it smarts a bit when you chew it.

Rocky. That's your tail you imbecile. Away with you and do not cross not my path again

And then all hell broke loose, the cat arched his back and hissed at Buddy. Buddy shuddered and pissed the floor. Ever since then, they've just circled each other but they've now found a way of co-existing.

So if the cat isn't Buddy's arch-enemy, then who is? Is it the postman? Nope, he's safe (so far). The thing that winds Buddy up more than anything else is a piggy bank. In fact, it's any piggy bank. If you want to see my puppy having a histrionic, rattle a piggy bank and put it on the floor in front the Bud-ster. He goes ballistic. And just so you don't have to take my word for it, here's a clip of Mad Dog in action...

Tuesday, 16 February 2010

Time for a 'Buddle' Bath

Due to being generally honking from the farm and being covered in his own sick, Buddy resembled a dodgy under-ager drinking cider at the Cenotaph on a Friday night when we first got him, so we bathed him as soon as we got him home. Eight days have passed since then and due to the Philadelphia cheese stuck on his ear (don't ask) we decided it time for a buddle bath for the pup. Let's just say it was not his favourite experience in the world. The Barlotte and The Boy were desperate to see him having his bath and were quite stunned to see how rat-like he is when his mighty fluff has been soaked. Once the 'fun' of bathtime was over, we brought him down for his blow dry. Again, there were other things in the world that Budweiser would rather be doing (you know, things like eating sausages, absconding from the garden through a hole in the fence and licking the plates in the dishwasher) but after his shampoo and set, he looked just dandio once again. He's still not come out of the corner though...


Buddy Boy Bingo gets a bath and loses all dignity and then suffers the humiliation of getting a blow dry. And no, I didn't ask him where he was going on holiday or if he was going out tonight...

Monday, 15 February 2010

I love my puppy because...

The best thing about having a puppy isn't the companionship. It's not the fun and games. It's not the sense of achievement when they learn something. It's not even just being able to stroke silky smooth ears while they sleep. No, none of that. The absolute best thing about having a puppy is having someone else to blame bottom burps on. Amen to that.

Sunday, 14 February 2010

Going to Puppy Club - Buddy style

We've had an 'interesting' few days with old Budders and a few sleepless nights. He's definitely found his feet - or paws- in the house now and a real cheeky side of him is becoming more apparent every day.

So this morning we all piled into the car and off we went to puppy club at Wizard of Paws. Buddy did very well in the car and wasn't sick - he did slever more than an lifelong member of Weightwatchers in a chip shop. Apparently his slevering is a sign of his anxiety - I wish he would find another way to express it....

Buddy made up 25% of the class. He was joined by Zoe (a Springer Spaniel) Twiglet, a tiny Border Terrier pup with a whole heap of attitude and Lexie a stunning grey Great Dane puppy who epitomised the term 'gentle giant'. I'd love to tell you that buddy was the star pupil. But I can't. He didn't respond to treats in fact he couldn't have been less interested in them. And as we using treats to help the pups learn their names, Buddy's apparent lack of regard for venison tongue and sausage pieces made our tasks all the harder. Alastair of Wizard of Paws explained that his sullen mood and sad face were probably due to his dislike of being in the car and as predicted by Alastair (or The Dog Whisperer as he should be known) Bud did gain confidence and become more lively as the class progressed. He still didn't do as he was asked though. I think we'll let him off just this once.

The class was great, really informative and eye-opening. Turns out that you use a lot of the same techniques when training a puppy as you do when bringing up children. And our kids have turned out okay so far. With the exception of The Boy....

We've come home with an 'indoor kennel' to help with our training - that's a big cage to you and me. It's been a godsend so far for the times when he's started his daft mouthing and nipping - we just pop him in the cage (he's been placed in as we speak) until he calms down. It's a bit like the naughty step, only without the negative connotations.

What else can I tell you? Well, he's grown in the 6 days we've had him and he's getting really heavy to carry now. The Barlotte spent ages playing football with him today and he finally got the hang of it. So if Scotland should ever make to a World Cup or European Championships final again, we could give Buddy a really sever haircut, give a strip and two pairs of football strips and send him out on the pitch...

Saturday, 13 February 2010

We've only just begun....


We've got a new addition to our family - a 9 week old Bearded Collie puppy who goes by the name of Buddy. We've wanted a family dog for a long time and now that the children are good ages to help out and benefit from having a pup. Lucy (Loopy) is eldest, she's ten. Charlotte (The Barlotte) is six and our youngest Dylan (The Boy) is five. We didn't tell them we were getting a puppy and they were absolutely over the moon when they met him for the first time.



Buddy is a bit of a celebrity - he's been on Radio Scotland on the Macaulay and Co show and he was a smash hit with everyone in the office and the studio - I thought I was going to have to wrestle host Susan Calman to get him home again. We've been lucky enough to meet the lovely Gill Buchanan from The Wizard Of Paws Canine Care Centre who's going to help us mould Buddy into the perfect pup in just six months. Best of luck with that one Gill...

So far we have discovered the following things:
  • Buddy likes to sleep. A lot.
  • If you're taking Buddy out in the car, you're gonna need baby wipes, Flash wipes, air freshener and hand sanitiser. Trust me on this one.
  • Dunking your hands in hot soapy water and then using carpet shampoo dries your skin out big time. And applying hand creams can nip like hell if you've got a puppy--inflicted scratch.
  • It's amazing how often you can say the word 'no' in a stern voice - with no results.
  • Having a puppy in indeed like like having a baby, except you don't need to stop drinking for nine months, you don't need stitches, get stretchmarks or have get your boobs out in public. so not really like having a baby at all I suppose...
So feel free to follow our journey to puppy perfection. It's sure to be exhaustive, testing, stressful but also jam-packed full of fun. we hope.